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Saab seeks partner for new small car, aims to be a contract manufacturer

March 24, 2011

Saab is continuing its search for a partner to help it build a new entry-level car and the company also wants to build vehicles for other automakers at its factory in Sweden, Chairman Victor Muller said.

"We are talking with other manufacturers to buy a platform or drivetrain technology for this entry-level car," Muller told Automotive News Europe. "It should come as soon as possible, in 2014 the earliest."

Muller said the car would be priced at about 20,000 euros, or about $28,300 at current exchange rates. "It should be a car about the size of an Audi A1, and we could sell 30,000 to 50,000 a year," Muller said in an interview with ANE earlier this month.

He did not say which other automakers Saab is talking to about a potential partnership.

Muller said Saab does not want to ask a bank for credit to fund investments for the new car. "We have a big asset with our plant in Trollhättan. It has a capacity of 190,000 cars. We could act as a contract-manufacturer," he said.